1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a proxy apparatus and method for streaming media information via at least one network and apparatus and methods for increasing the quality of stored media information.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, techniques are available to stream multimedia content from a network or media server. Streaming multimedia content involves sending multimedia content to a user's terminal buffer which then outputs the multimedia content for viewing by the user. The multimedia content may be only temporarily stored on the user's terminal and is removed once viewing is complete. Streaming multimedia content allows a user to begin viewing the content before it is completely sent to his/her terminal.
With present streaming techniques, a user must request multimedia content from a local server normally across a network each time the user wishes to view the multimedia content. The user may experience large delays and poor quality of service due to network congestion and network utilization which will also impact other users that are making use of the network. Thus, there is a need for new technology to improve multimedia content access.